Out to lunch again, by David Bullard

Out to lunch again, by David Bullard.

Out to lunch again, by David Bullard.

What critic Bridget Hilton-Barber from Sawubona said about Out to lunch again, by David Bullard: Bullard's views are refreshingly incorrect, satirical, funny and sometimes downright nasty.

About ten years ago, just as South Africa was recovering from its post-Uhuru party babalaas, a new column appeared on the pages of the Sunday Times. Titled Out to Lunch, this new column gave us all a collective klap on the cheek and reminded us that the country we had lived in on 26 April 1994 was actually not very different from the one we were living in on 28 April 1994. Sure, Nelson Mandela had booted FW de Klerk out of Libertas and changed the name to Mahlambandlpfu; the whiteys had raided the bunkers and cleared the pre-election stockpiles; and we were all happy to see the back of Yasser Arafat, Hillary Clinton and the hundreds of worthies who had descended on our shores. But, as the great leftist revolutionary David Bullard has pointed out over the years, what essentially happened was that the white elite merely opened its golf courses and gentlemen's facilities to a new elite and the elites lived happily ever after. Since then Out to Lunch has been the bain of successive Sunday Times editors who have had their (extremely) well-deserved Monday off-days disrupted by irate politicians demanding the public lynching of David Bullard and have had their in-trays burdened with letters from British expats angry at being called poms.

Which is what makes Out to Lunch a dream column for any editor to have in their newspaper: it is an equal-opportunity dispenser of lethal barbs. From the pom expat who feels the Empire's contribution to modern civilisation has been belittled, to the fat-cat government bigwig who feels his or her life of dedication to the construction of a liberated, socialist, democratic people's state is not being recognised, to the worthy activist who feels the cause of a post-modern, environmentalist, transformative, neo-socialist agenda is being ridiculed - all have been at the receiving end of some fine prose from the pen of David Bullard. In fact, I am often tempted to tell the complainants that they should feel privileged to be insulted with such elegance.

For the Sunday Times reader, Out to Lunch is a breezy Sunday morning must-read that gets many nodding and saying, 'I wish I could have thought of that first.' Another virtue of Out to Lunch is the integrity of the columnist. When an editor assigns someone a regular column, he effectively gives away valuable real estate over which he has no control. The columnist has a right to do as he or she wishes with the space with the only proviso that they do not bore readers, defame people or skirt the ethical pavement. With Out to Lunch Bullard has treated the space - and therefore the readers of the Sunday Times - with utmost respect.

This book will enthral readers with its amazing use of the English language and the author's ability to stretch logic to reach improbable yet believable conclusions. It will help jog the memory of some fine moments in our recent past and make the reader appreciate what a pleasure it is to live in this sometimes crazy society. And, most importantly, it will at least make you smile, giggle, laugh or snarl - depending on how seriously you take yourself.

This is an extract from the book: Out to lunch again, by David Bullard.

Book title: Out to lunch again
Author: David Bullard
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Cape Town, South Africa 2005
ISBN 9781868422356
Softcover, 15x22 cm, 144 pages

Bullard, David im Namibiana-Buchangebot

Out to lunch again

Out to lunch again

Out to lunch again is an assortment of David Bullard's incorrect, satirical, funny articles he wrote for the Sunday Times in South Africa.

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